‘ZeroZeroZero’ on Amazon Will Ease Some of Your Post ‘Narcos’ Pain

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ZeroZeroZero

It’s been nearly a month since the release of Narcos: Mexico‘s latest season. If you’re looking for your latest druggie drama fix, Amazon has your back. ZeroZeroZero opens up the cocaine trade to the world at large. And it has enough backstabbing, betrayals, shootouts, and questionable deals gone wrong to entertain you for a weekend.

Though the eight-episode ZeroZeroZero just premiered stateside today, it’s been airing episodes in Italy for a while now. A co-productions between Sky Atlantic, Canal+ and Prime Video, the series is based on the novel of the same name by Roberto Saviano. This story centers around the Lynwood family, a group that controls an international shipping company. That shipping company also acts as a go-between the Mexican and Italian criminal organizations. There is an endless amount of bad blood on both ends of this international drama. And the Lynwoods are trapped in the middle of all of it.

Andrea Riseborough stars as Emma Lynwood, the eldest daughter of the shipping family and the one who runs its day-to-day operations. Dane DeHaan plays Emma’s mysterious younger brother Chris, who is slowly learning to live with Huntington’s disease. The series also stars Dane DeHaan, Gabriel Byrne, Noé Hernández, Tchéky Karyo, and Diego Cataño.

ZeroZeroZero isn’t quite as well-rounded as other crime drama series. Because there are so many competing families with so many conflicting motives, the central story can be difficult to follow. Adding to that complexity it’s unclear who we’re supposed to be rooting for in ZeroZeroZero. It’s not until the back half of the series’ first episode that Emma emerges from its murky depths as our protagonist. The series lacks the pointed, concise narrative focus of the genre’s gems like Narcos or True Detective.

That being said if all you’re looking for in a crime drama is, well, drama and some shocking fight scenes, ZeroZeroZero has that in spades. Hardly a minute passes without a charged face-off between the Italian and Mexican crime syndicate or a shootout that involves civilians. Despite its clear love for over-the-top drug trade mayhem, this series rarely forgets that the real victims of the coke industry are the innocent communities it destroys.

Is ZeroZeroZero great television? No. But it does have its fun moments. If the light beer version of Narcos sounds like an enjoyable way to pass a weekend, check it out.